Travels with Snowbirds, Myrtle Beach Travel Park to Blue Spring State Park, FL January 5 to January 8 2013

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Saturday January 5, 2013

Myrtle Beach Travel Park to The Oaks at Point South CG, Yemassee, SC



Happy Birthday, Richard.

For whatever reason, I woke up at 5:30 this morning. Saturday is a terrible morning to wake up early and expect to watch TV, as the only thing on is kids TV and infomercials. I hung in there until 6:30 then got up. In the summer, this would be ok. Sunrise at MB in January is 7:20, meaning 6:30 is pretty darn dark still. I am not used to this late sunrise. Myrtle Beach is even further west than Wilmington, and certainly a lot further west than NJ. The good news is sunset is later, and at 5:30 it is still pretty light out. I was the first one on the beach at 6:45 and what a successful shell collecting morning it was. I found 3, yes 3 complete knobbed whelks (those ultra large orangey snail shells, 5 sea urchins, one whole sand dollar, and numerous large sand dollar pieces (I use them in my garden). My (kids) pail was full. My shell picker/grabber was wonderful! By the time I got back to my rig, my hands were numb. It was 46 degrees.

I was on the road by 8:45. First stop Wal-Mart for groceries and a few camping supplies. Next Lowes for straps to tie the bicycle to the back. Then back to Camping World where I easily got my free mat carrying case – the sales girl remembered me. Her flyer was different than my mailer, and she honored the promotion.

I have been forcing myself to use Siri as my GPS, now that Google Maps is back on my iPhone. But, I don’t think it is really Siri, so I call her Babe. I learned a few valuable iPhone lessons. When using GPS, you can’t leave the screen on all the time as the battery gets chewed up. None of the various iPhone chargers I have fit into my iPhone with the hard plastic case in use. I take the case off, and leave the screen off and keep her plugged in and we have stasis. EXCEPT that there is no place in the RV that I can put it so I can glance at it every now and then. I’m working on it and will come up with a solution.

Over the river and thru the woods on SC back roads to get to I95, about 80 miles south and west. I passed thru towns with wonderful names such as Johnsonville, Turbeville, and Hanna (home of Josh Turner. Who is Josh Turner)? I called Ginnie, and we discovered that she, travelling south on I95 would cross my route in about 5 minutes. She pulled into the next rest area and waited the 20 minutes for me to catch up. It was good to see her and meet her newest baby, 7 month old doberman Elliot.

Ginnie is a very good girl friend and camping friend from my NJ Loners on Wheels Club. We travelled together last winter and really formed a good bond, I think. At that point Ginnie had 2 dobermans, Linus and George. Both wonderful dogs, Linus being tall and black, opposing to George’s dwarfism. His body is normal to large size for a Doberman, but his legs were 6 inches long. Both wonderful, loving, friendly dogs, who gave me a new appreciation for the breed. Winston even got along with both dogs. On our 2012 winter trip George took sick. Very sick. Terminally sick. After Ginnie took many trips to various vets up and down the state of FL, she determined that helping him pass was the kindest thing we could do. Sad. It put a bummer on the rest of the trip.

I left Ginnie early March and she stayed in FL while I went back to NC. Ginnie got sick, she was hospitalized and diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation while in FL. I tried to figure out how to get down to her and help her drive her rig back, but the airfare was over $1000 for the one way trip. Ginnie arranged for another friend to travel to FL to help drive her home – an extra driver in case an A-Fib attack came on her, which it did several times. Her treatment once at home eventually led to her having the ablation ‘surgery’ and now she is cured. Funny how I developed the same A-Fib over the summer. I wonder if it is ‘catching’. Laugh.

Over the course of the year, Ginnie adopted 4 month old Elliot, now 7 months old. A Doberman puppy is fun to watch. All legs, not in good control of his size, constantly bumping into things, stumbling over those huge feet, you get the idea. He is all puppy, chews, runs, licks, but Ginnie is doing an excellent job training him, it’s just hard work. He’s a ball buster, and we both think he will become Alpha dog in their household, demoting his older brother Linus. It will be fun to watch this develop.

We continued on to Yemassee, SC, total drive for me for the day about 180 miles. We spent the early evening catching up, but my 5:30 wake up time put me in bed early.



Sunday January 6, 2013

Yemassee SC to Blue Spring State Park, Orange City FL



Ginnie made breakfast this morning!!! Scrambled eggs with mushrooms, yummy. A nice way to start the day. Unhooking was easy, we were on the road by 9:00 and it started to rain and rained off and on most of the day. A few normal road stops, gas, potty breaks for us and dogs all of us tiptoeing thru the rain drops. It was a long driving day, about 280 miles arriving at Blue Spring State Park at 4:00, and while party cloudy, the sun was out. Temperature 81 degrees. A big change from the 39 just 2 days ago, and I’ll take it. Ginnie was so warm she had to turn her a/c on!!!

Here we met up with another NJ Loners camping buddy, Judy B, who is on her way north back to NJ and her education professor position at Monmouth U. I was glad we were able to coordinate our dates and spend some time together. We all leave Wednesday.

I love the FL state park system. They have a wonderful web site with good information about all the parks, and use Reserve America for their on line reservations which has very slick features. The state parks themselves are one prettier than the next one.

I love this park and campground a lot. The sites are huge and level with dense foliage between each site. Ginnie is next door and I have to really peek between the trees to see her rig. Blue Spring SP covers more than 2600 acres, including the largest spring on the St. Johns River. Blue Spring is a designated Manatee Refuge and the winter home to a growing population of West Indian Manatees. The spring’s crystal clear 73 degree water can be enjoyed by swimmers (but not when the manatees are present from November to March.) Last year when I was here the Park Ranger counted 125 Manatees near the spring. As it was so late in the day, we didn’t take the walk to the spring today; we will do that first thing in the morning and take lots of good pictures.

Dinner was a joint effort by Ginnie and Judy and I just enjoyed it immensely. I left Winston in the rig while I ate with the girls in the next campsite, and he barked the entire time I was gone. I heard him.

I am happy I am finally warm. BUT, I have that obnoxious pre cold feeling, scratchy throat and sneezing when I shouldn’t be. I started sucking on my Cold-Eze which I swear dramatically decreases the length and intensity of my colds. I haven’t had a cold in over a year, and I hope this one doesn’t drag out and become bronchitis with the cough that shakes the innards for weeks.

Great air antenna service here, out of Orlando. All the nextworks. Off to watch some good Sunday night TV……Revenge or The Good Wife. The Good Wife will win, as CBS is very stingy about putting full run episodes on the internet.

Kat out.



Monday January 7, 2013

Blue Spring State Park, near Orange City FL.

I was up until almost midnight last night, writing, watching TV, just lingering around. I walked Winston before I went to bed and let me tell you it was dark. There are no streetlights, and it was cloudy, so no stars, no moon. I didn’t walk far. The good news about going to bed so late is I slept until 6:30, and that is a joy in itself. It never got lower than 60 degrees last night, and I was nice and warm and snuggy without any heating devices, and just one layer of quilt and red throw.

Our plans were to meet at 8 for a walk to the spring for manatee viewing. Temp was 62 degrees, I opted for shorts and hoodie, and was quite comfortable. Judy left her dog, Charlie, Corgi, in her rig, I brought Winston, Ginnie brought the boys.

For one of the few times in his life with me, I was proud of Winston; he pranced along next to me, sniffed every tree, peed and pooped appropriately, did not chase squirrels or birds, and did not interact with the Dobermans. Elliot and Linus tried Ginnie’s patience, tugging opposite directions, whining, trying to chase squirrels, not liking the boardwalk, yadda yadda yadda, you get the idea. Leading one 60 pound dog is enough, but 2 at the same time taxed Ginnie this morning.

I got some awesome manatee pictures, the group at the spring this morning was large, and we even got a good view of a baby. Then, lo and behold, was an alligator. A quick google on the iPhone, alligators don’t bother manatees, they eat fish, turtles, small animals and manatees are vegetarians. They were swimming along together, about 4 feet apart. The alligator found a spot he liked and just laid there watching, head only part out of the water. I have seen alligators in the wild before, but this viewing was awesome.

Temperature today low 70s, the rest of the week over 80. Yeah!!!

Kat out



Tuesday January 8, 2013

Blue Spring State Park

A very very lazy day. The 3 of us girls were up and out at 8:30 to see the manatees. They were nearer our side of the shore this morning, and we got up close and personal looks at many adults and babies, and they are so cute. No alligator today.

A road trip at lunch time to Olive Garden for their yummy salad and bread sticks and other goodies, and then on to Wal-Mart for some needed supplies.

I left Winston in his crate for the 2 hours we were gone. I bought a new collapsible sturdy wire crate, small enough to fit in the space between the passenger seat and door when folded, but large enough for him to stand up straight. His bed fits in it. I left him with a nice beef bone Ginnie had given me. He was barking when we left, but wasn’t barking when we returned. He did not touch the bone. Strange, very strange.

Ginnie and Judy went back to the spring for a late day manatee look-see, but none were found. I sat down on my couch and started to crochet, and fell asleep for a 15 minute power nap which I must have needed. Happy hour at my rig, then all settled in for the evening to get ready for our Wednesday departure. It will be sad to see Judy head north, on to Charleston for another conference before heading home to NJ. We hope she never sees snow this winter. Ginnie and I are heading to St. Cloud, FL, south of Orlando, for a Loners on Wheels campout.

Blue Spring is one of my favorite campgrounds, for it’s beauty, and the manatees. I will get back here before I head home.

Kat out.

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Photos

The Manatees
look carefully to see the babies

Ginnie & the Boys
Linus, Red Collar, Elliot, Blue Collar

Alligator
yes, it really was this close to us

Anhinga
I think

Comments

[Barb]

Enjoying your travels. Always great hearing from you. You sound more relaxed stay well l, still in Pa back to AZ. Next wk. To sunshine and warmer weather. Barb

[NanaKat]

Good to hear from you, Barb
Hope all is calming down in PA and you can get home to AZ soon. Call when you can